THE MARKETING OF FRUIT 



C COMMISSION dealers who handle 

 / fruit on a large scale are often in a 

 position to note methods of marketing, 

 which result in the securing of advanced 

 prices for fruit. Differences in the shape 

 and size of packages, and of their construc- 

 tion, often materially affect the prices ob- 

 tained for the fruit. In this connection 

 some interesting information was given a 

 representative of The Horticulturist recent- 

 ly by the manager for Messrs. McWilliam 

 and Everist, commission dealers, of To- 

 ronto. 



" It often pays handsomely," said this 

 gentleman, " to have a lid on the fruit case. 

 Where covers are nailed on they are fre- 

 quently broken off by the customers in their 

 desire to look at the fruit before making a 

 purchase. Other customers who examine 

 this fruit see broken covers and get the idea 

 that the fruit has either been tampered with 

 or rejected for some good reason by a pre- 

 vious intending buyer, and they immediately 

 receive the impression that there must be 

 something wrong with the fruit or that it is 

 not as good as it appears. Where a case 

 has a lid which can be readily lifted, any 

 number of buyers may examine the fruit 

 without in any way injuring the appearance 

 of the package. 



THE BEST STRAWBERRY CASES. 



"For the marketing of strawberries, 24, 2^ 

 and "^(i quart cases, non-returnable, are pre- 

 ferable to the 54 quart case. They have a 

 much better appearance and are always 

 fresh and clean looking. They also save a 

 great deal of trouble on the part of the con- 

 sumer, who is not put to the bother of look- 

 ing after the return of the packages. 



After a 54-quart case has been used a 

 couple of times it soon looks the worse for 

 wear, especially if the customer, as some do, 

 has used it for the holding of potatoes. A 

 nice clean looking case of fruit will often 

 bring a better price than better fruit mar- 

 keted in dirty boxes, although good fruit 



and good packages are DOth required to ob- 

 tain the best prices. 



TOO MANY DIEEERENT SIZES. 



There are too many sized baskets used 

 in the marketing of cherries, grapes, peaches, 

 plums and pears. These include all sizes, 

 from the 6-quart to the 14-quart baskets. 

 The best and most popular sized basket is 

 the i2-quart for the larger size and the 

 8-quart for the smaller one. It is well to 

 have at least two sizes like this, for some 

 buyers desire a large basket, while others 

 prefer a smaller one. 



" One of the greatest objections to having 

 too many different sizes of baskets is the 

 difficulty experienced in filling large orders 

 with fruit packed in uniform baskets. It 

 does not look well to fill a customer's order 

 with different sized baskets. It always 

 complicates matters when we are unable to 

 fill our orders with baskets of the same size 

 as those upon which we quoted prices, when 

 taking the order. Confusion is also caused 

 sometimes among the growers, who hear 

 that we are paying one grower more for his 

 baskets' than we have been paying them. 

 These men do not realize that the difference 

 in the size of the baskets is responsible for 

 the difference in price paid. 



" The Ontario Fruit Growers' Association 

 would take a progressive step were it to 

 adopt a uniform basket in the same way it 

 has adopted a uniform apple box. The 

 same reasons which led the association to 

 adopt a standard apple box apply in the case 

 of the basket. 



" Where there is uniformity in the size of 

 the packages buyers order with more confi- 

 dence as they know just what they will re- 

 ceive. 



WHERE LOSS OCCURS. 



" One great objection to putting up cher- 

 ries in .large quantities is the tendency of 

 this fruit to heat, which results in great in- 

 jury to the quality. A great deal of money 

 is lost by growers through lack of care in 



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